Thom Yorke certainly doesn't do things the easy way. The topics covered on The Eraser include power blackouts, the New Orleans flood and, most contentiously, this song about the apparent suicide of Dr David Kelly, the Government weapons inspector found dead days after giving evidence before a Parliamentary committee about the Iraq war, and thus sparking the one of the biggest political scandals of modern times.
Musically, it's the landscape familiar to listeners of Kid A and Amnesiac. Jerky electronic beats dominate, setting up an atmosphere full of paranoia and dread. Then Yorke's lyrics show us where he stands on the 'was he really killed' conspiracy theories that have been doing the rounds since Kelly's death: "did I fall or was I pushed? And where's the blood?". The song's defining line, "don't ask me, ask the ministry", sends a shiver down one's spine.
As Yorke himself has admitted, the morality of writing a song about a person whose family are still grieving could be questioned, but it's rare that we find an artist brave enough to tackle subjects such as this. As the band are very keen to point out, they're still very much together, but with or without Radiohead, this is Thom Yorke at the very height of his powers.
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